Kobe Bryant Speaks on LeBron James as Lakers' SF Nears His All-Time Scoring Mark

Kobe Bryant might have been a fierce competitor on the court, but the Los Angeles Lakers legend is happy to salute the contributions of those who come after him.

In this case, Bryant was reflecting on LeBron James' inevitable move up into third on the NBA's all-time scoring list. LeBron has 33,563 points over his career, putting him only 80 points behind Bryant.

"It's great," the 41-year-old said to The Athletic's Bill Oram. "I think it's great for him. I mean, the amount of work he's put in over his career, consistency, I think it's awesome."

Oram recounted how Michael Jordan sent a congratulatory message to Bryant when he moved ahead of Jordan on the scoring chart in December 2014.

Bryant explained how the message reflected the shared respect the basketball greats have for one another: "That was the most important thing. That was cool. Because it's such a brotherhood, such an amount of respect between us as players, and you know the amount of work and consistency you have to put in over time so it's nothing but love and respect."

Earlier in James' career, he was routinely compared to Bryant as fans argued over who was the better player. As Bryant's time wound down and James became the unquestioned best player in the league, the cycle essentially repeated itself with Kevin Durant entering the conversation instead.

In a few years, James could be talking about Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo or Luka Doncic in terms similar to how Bryant reflected upon his contributions.

Following his retirement in 2016, Bryant has remained close to the game.

He breaks down some of the top stars from the NBA and WNBA for the ESPN+ series Detail.

He has also worked with a small handful of stars during the offseason to impart some of his wisdom. Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was among those who took part in the camp last August and called it "one of my favorite highlights this summer."